Newsletter - October

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ST. GEORGE’S PRESCHOOL NEWSLETTER September, 2015 Calendar of events: September 1 T Staff meeting, NO Lunch Bunch 3-18 Class Gathering in the library, 9:15 a.m. 14 M Sports Blitz with Coach Andy Begins Parent Board meeting, LSH, 9:15 a.m. 18 F Cabrillo Marine Program 22 T Rise and Sing Music with Amy Tibert Begins 28 M Lead teacher meeting, library, 12:30 p.m. October Conferences for Two’s & Three’s 2 F Rise and Sing Music with Amy Tibert Begins 5 M Staff In-Service, NO SCHOOL 6 T NO STAFF MEETING – There IS Lunch Bunch today 7/8 W/Th Chapel begins, 11:40 a.m. (Parents wait a couple weeks) 8 Th Mindful Parenting Begins, LSH, 9:15 a.m. 12 M Parent board meeting, LSH, 9:15 a.m. 16 F Reptiles Visit 18 Sun. Family Dinner, LSH 22 Th T-Th School photos 23 F MWF & PreK School photos (and Parent Board) 26 M Lead teacher meeting, Library, 12:30 p.m. 29/30 Th/F Pumpkin Hunts Classroom Gatherings Please take the time to gather in the Library at 9:30 on your designated day with your Lead Teacher and Miss Cherie. This is a causal half hour in order to get better aquinted with your fellow parents and we can get better aquinted with you. Thursday the 3 rd Yellow Tuesday the 8 th Red Wednesday the 9 th Red Thursday the 10 th Green *Friday the 18 th Green *Changed from the 11th Tuesday the 15 th Blue Wednesday the 16 th - Blue

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october 2014 newsletter

Transcript of Newsletter - October

Page 1: Newsletter - October

ST. GEORGE’S PRESCHOOL NEWSLETTER September, 2015

Calendar of events: September 1 T Staff meeting, NO Lunch Bunch

3-18 Class Gathering in the library, 9:15 a.m. 14 M Sports Blitz with Coach Andy Begins

Parent Board meeting, LSH, 9:15 a.m. 18 F Cabrillo Marine Program

22 T Rise and Sing Music with Amy Tibert Begins 28 M Lead teacher meeting, library, 12:30 p.m. October Conferences for Two’s & Three’s

2 F Rise and Sing Music with Amy Tibert Begins 5 M Staff In-Service, NO SCHOOL 6 T NO STAFF MEETING – There IS Lunch Bunch today 7/8 W/Th Chapel begins, 11:40 a.m. (Parents wait a couple weeks) 8 Th Mindful Parenting Begins, LSH, 9:15 a.m. 12 M Parent board meeting, LSH, 9:15 a.m. 16 F Reptiles Visit 18 Sun. Family Dinner, LSH 22 Th T-Th School photos 23 F MWF & PreK School photos (and Parent Board) 26 M Lead teacher meeting, Library, 12:30 p.m. 29/30 Th/F Pumpkin Hunts

Classroom Gatherings

Please take the time to gather in the Library at 9:30 on your designated day with your Lead Teacher and Miss Cherie. This is a causal half hour in order to get better aquinted with your fellow parents and we can get better aquinted with you.

Thursday the 3rd – Yellow Tuesday the 8th – Red

Wednesday the 9th – Red Thursday the 10th – Green *Friday the 18th – Green

*Changed from the 11th

Tuesday the 15th – Blue Wednesday the 16th - Blue

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WHEN SOMEONE OTHER THAN YOU IS PICKING UP YOUR CHILD!

By the sign-in clipboard you will find little forms to fill out if someone

other than you will be picking up your child. Even if this person is listed in your child’s file this added note is VERY helpful. So, please take the

time to fill it out and leave it with the clipboard or teacher.

Please make a special effort to keep our children safe. Please hold your child’s hand as you come and go from school. Please keep younger and older siblings with you at all times.

Do not leave any children unattended in the car. IT IS NEVER SAFE AND IS ILLEGAL!

SLOW DOWN IN THE PARKING LOTS. PARK YOUR CAR WITHIN THE LINES SO THERE IS ROOM FOR EVERYONE.

Please finish all cell phone calls before entering the school gate. Your children deserve your complete attention.

Bring your child on time to school. It is difficult for children to enter into the play or circle time if it has already started!!

Don’t forget to bring a photo for your child’s cubbie if you are in the MWF or T-Th program.

Cubby Policy

Please do not put favors, gifts or goodies in the children’s cubbies.

Invitations to parties or gatherings are fine as long as everyone is invited. If you would like to bring a special snack for the children please check with your lead teacher first and remember we do have some children

with allergies.

TOILETING SKILLS

The three year olds and some of the two year olds are learning to use the toilets at school!! Part of that process is learning how to wipe. Teachers will talk children through the process of gathering toilet paper, wiping themselves and then washing their hands. Please practice these skills at home. Teachers do not wipe the children so remember when your children come home they may not be as clean in that area as you would like. It is very helpful if you send your child in clothes he/she can easily manipulate. Elastic waistbands seem to be the best. If your child has come home in clothes labeled school please return them to the office once you have washed them so we can keep a good supply on hand.

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Nothing New…. By Cherie McSweeney, Director

When I started teaching preschool way back in 1979 the trend was for

everything natural, everything real. Like wooden structures on the play yards,

real pots and pans, telephones and such in the dramatic play areas. Then, it

slowly moved to brightly colored plastic play equipment which was more

durable and was easier to maintain. The dramatic play toys became “child

sized,” plastic and brightly colored as well.

Now, we are seeing the tide turn and the trend is going back to natural

environments and real things to pretend with while playing and learning about

their world around them. And, I am happy as can be! It is only when I look

back I see the real value in using items that are “real world” for our young

children.

Not only do I believe children enjoy real items like pots and pans, telephones,

keyboards, nuts and bolts, rocks and logs, water and dirt/sand more, they also

provide a variety of advantages. First and foremost there is a greater respect for

them and their play. Also, these items provide a variety of textures to feel,

weight which builds muscle strength and they make sounds when clanked

together. They provide wonderful opportunities for exploration and imagination.

So, open up the kitchen cabinets and the back doors once again and let your

children have at it!

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Mindful ParentingMindful ParentingMindful ParentingMindful Parenting October 8 – November 19

(no class October 22 – Picture Day)

Thursday mornings, 9:15—10:30

Preschool Director Cherie McSweeney and

the Rev. Amy Pringle will lead a class for

parents in mindfulness – the art of settling

into the present moment.

Countless studies have shown that learning the very simple practices of mindfulness

helps children not only to study and learn at a higher level, but also (and maybe more

importantly) to improve social skills and the ability to cope with difficult emotions and

situations.

Parents without kids enrolled in the Preschool are welcome.

Cost: Flat fee of $60, due by October 8th

Child Care is available for up to 12 kids (must be walkers)

Sign up for the class, and for child care if you need it:

On the clipboard on the counter outside the office

GREETINGS FROM THE PARENT BOARD Helena Danni, President

Welcome back to school! I hope everyone had a wonderful summer and is settling back into the routine of a new school year. I know the beginning of a school year can be an emotional time for parents and kiddos. My daughter is in her 3rd and final year at St. George’s so her 1st day of school wasn’t so hard but it’s still never easy leaving your baby. St. George’s is such a great place and I have seen firsthand the wonderful teachers help our children go from being nervous to excited and turning frowns into smiles. BACK TO SCHOOL... I hope you had a chance to stop by our Back to School coffees during the first week of school. It is such a fun way to connect with old and new friends at St. George's. We had a great turn out this year and I loved seeing so many of you! Thank you to our Hospitality Committee, Cristina Kelly, Megan Abel, Lauren Delphey and Lisa Eich for hosting and to the Gaviña family for donating all the coffee. Our Parent Social committee is hard at work planning this year’s fall evening out. This is a great way to see old friends and meet new ones without a little person hanging on your leg. The event is planned for September 24 so save the date and stay tuned for more details. You won’t want to miss this fun event. I’m so excited about this year's St. George's t-shirts and tote bags! Many thanks to Beth Shupper and Jennifer Mester for all the time they've put into designing, ordering and selling them for us. All pre-paid t-shirts have been ordered and by now your child should have received their tote bag. We are hoping to receive the shirts soon. When they arrive they will be placed in your child’s cubby. Planning for Dragon Faire has started early this year. The committee is coming together and is going to be a fabulous group of parents. We are still in need of committee chairs to help with decorations and one committee chair for handling volunteers. Please consider joining these fun committees. It’s a great way to get involved with the school and make some new friends!

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IT’S FALL! Save the Date! St. George's Annual Family Fall Dinner is coming up on Sunday, October 18th. We'll have fun arts and crafts, delicious Mexican food and yummy desserts. Look for flyers in your child's cubbies. You won’t want to miss out on this fun tradition! I am thrilled to be a part of this year's Parent Board and look forward to an exciting year of Preschool! If you have any questions, concerns or suggestions for the board, please feel free to contact me at any time.

LIBRARY NEWS Joyce Davison, Librarian and Georgie

Catch a DRAGON by the Tail Reading Program

Welcome one and all to the library cart on the patio. You all have given me a big surprise by checking out about 150 books in the first weeks of this school year.

Sharing good stories is so important in the development of your children. Our books tell stories to learn from like manners, getting along with each other, talking about feelings and so on. There are many books to share during story time and at bed time. Always remember to preview books, before you read them to your children.

I do ask that you follow the very simple rules that are posted on the cart and I do ask for you to print your child’s first and last name just in case there is another child with the same first name. From time to time you will see new books featured on the cart.

I will make a list of the new titles for you to look for and enjoy. Should you have a suggestion of an addition to our collection please feel free to let me know what it is. Continue to enjoy all of the things on the cart. See you on the patio!!

CLASSROOM NEWS

Yellow Door The children have settled into the Yellow Door very smoothly this year. They have adjusted easily to the classroom routine and expectations. They are making new friends, as well as, keeping the old friendships!

We have been getting to know each other and learning names as we talk about ourselves and our families. We drew self-portraits and weighed and measured each child. We save these papers and have the child do the same at the end of the school year. It is very fun to see the growth and development of each child. We spoke about hair color, eyes, body parts and clothes. We looked into mirrors to discover what we look like!

Friendship is a part of our discussion. What is a friend? How can you be a friend? And even though we came from the different doors and new schools, we are all Yellow Door kids now! The kids have been talking about their families; do they have brothers or sisters? They have really enjoyed the “Yellow Door TV”. It has been in the classroom and will stay out a week, check it out if you get the chance.

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The children have been enjoying all the toy baskets in our room, as well as, the fire trucks, the playhouse and the car garage. They have been exploring the manipulative toys on the tables as well; these toys are designed to help with small or fine motor development. We have also seen a lot of block building and dramatic play in the kitchen area!

Free art is available most days and is very popular, the children love to create pictures and letters using the scissors, staplers, markers and tape. You will find many “projects” in their cubbies from this area. Keep in mind that they have often spent a good deal of time and effort creating these things for you or their friends.

Soon we will be talking about personal characteristics such as bravery or what it means to be a caring person. We use the Wizard of OZ theme to talk about these topics. It also ties into the color unit, where we will be discussing colors in a new way. We will introduce the color wheel: primary and secondary colors. We will discuss how colors make us feel, different shades and tints of color. The children can bring in an object each day for our color box. It can be any color on any of the days. The kids will come up to the front of the class and show us the item they brought. There will be many color mixing activities to give the children hands on experience with making secondary colors.

In the Yellow Door we do many fun activities and projects that make learning fun. It has been a pleasure meeting all of you and your children! This year is off to a great start! I look forward to many exciting days in the Yellow door and watching your children grow.

Blue Door Miss Babs and I are so proud of your children in the T-Th class. They are already showing an eagerness to be in school learning how to socialize and play with new friends. While we have experienced some tears, which can be a normal part of this transition, the children settle down very quickly and find something of interest that leads to a very fun day! We will see an easing of the tears with each successful day they experience and before you know it the tears will be gone. So, parents take a deep breath and know that you are doing the right thing and your children will be fine. The family pictures have been very helpful. Everyone is so proud to share their pictures with the other children. We make as many trips to the bathroom as necessary and already have children who tell us when they need to go. As we have helped your preschoolers adjust to their new school schedules, we have started offering them some fun, open-ended activities. We always give the children the choice to do the project, never insisting, always encouraging. In this first year at school, our desire is to make projects available but not mandatory. As I mentioned above, a huge majority of these activities are open-ended, but what does that mean? Open-ended activities are projects that are done without a specific end product. For example, we had shaving cream available for the kids to play with. Picture finger painting, but it smells good! The process involves being comfortable getting your hands dirty which is a tactile experience. The kids are welcome to explore and play for as long as they want and come back to it any time even if they already washed their hands. Another example of an open-ended activity is the gadget painting we did last week. Each painter is given a clean piece of paper and they add as much or as little of the paint using the potato masher as they wish. The painting is done when they say it is. Another project we offered the preschoolers this past week was to decorate a crown for their birthday that we will celebrate later in the school year. This also is a great example of the open-ended activity. Stickers were made available and each child decorated their crown with as few or as many stickers as they wanted.

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As we enter the month of September, we will do a unit on sea life and talk about the creatures of the sea. Be on the lookout for the jelly fish swimming in the classroom! All of the fall colors will soon replace the ocean as we learn about the season of autumn. In October, I look forward to our scheduled conference and meeting each of you. We will have the opportunity to get to know each other better and can share our thoughts and goals for the upcoming year. October will also be the beginning of our weekly music class on Tuesday with Miss Amy and chapel on Thursday with Rev. Amy. Both of these activities provide the children with the opportunity to sing and be a part of a social gathering and what their role is in that type of setting. The children in the MWF class have returned ready to share the new experiences that a second year brings them. It is always such a pleasure to see the excitement on their faces when they arrive for the first day of school. It is a huge contrast to their experience from last year and with growing confidence they know that they can accomplish new challenges. We have welcomed Aham, Anneke, Asher, Eleanor, Henry, Isabel, Laura and Sunny to our class; you would never know they weren’t with us last year. One of the rewards of being a teacher is witnessing the progress a class makes. Each student has shown tremendous growth and maturity. This class is more than ready to take on the new challenges that this year will bring. As we ease into our familiar routine, Miss Bonnie and I have started offering simple activities for the children. One popular project is stringing beads to make a necklace. The project may seem simple yet having the ability to pick up a small object with just your thumb and pointer finger, known as the pincher grasp, is a fine motor skill that we have developed. Being given the opportunity to practice the pincher grasp as much as possible aids the preschooler in their mastery of this skill. A bonus that I delight in seeing is the creations of the necklaces themselves. Many of the children take the time to create a pattern with the beads. This is a pre-reading skill they are doing! We will begin offering fun units of activities with your children as we enter the month of September. The Cabrillo Marine Museum program will visit us soon which offers a wonderful hands-on experience for the preschoolers to learn about sea life. One open-ended activity that the children love to be a part of is the painting of white butcher paper. It is somewhat magical that they paint a rectangular shaped paper with blues and greens and I can “shape” it into the ocean to display on our bulletin board! They love being a part of the magic that decorates the classroom. Later on in September, as autumn arrives, both classes will start exploring what that means. Soon we will have leaves, apples, and of course, pumpkins decorating our room. October will bring Halloween and the difference between what is real and what is pretend. We will start exploring the different types of mediums available. Look for Q-tip painting with watercolors, golf-ball painting, gluing projects and much, much more. Next week we will start our weekly Sports Blitz class with Coach Andy on Mondays. The children really enjoy getting moving and learning new sports skills with him. Starting in October, we will begin our monthly music class with Miss Amy. The children love spending time with her singing songs and dancing to Amy’s singing. Chapel will also begin and, from that Wednesday on, we will be in our classroom at pick up time. This year is off to a great start! I can’t wait to share with you all the wonders of preschool.

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Red Door T-Th The children are adjusting very well to their new classroom. It is great to see their confidence grow and grow with each day that they are at school! They are becoming more comfortable with the teachers and each other and it’s great to see them interacting. While inside, the children like to look at books on the rug, play in the water table and hang out in the loft. Some of them are very interested in the paint easel as you can tell from the amount of beautiful artwork coming home each day as well as the amount of paint of their clothes, shoes, bodies, etc. Thank you for continuing to send them in comfortable clothes that you do not mind getting dirty or stained. It is very important in our classroom for the children to feel like they can explore all the materials without having to worry about anything. Some of the children are so busy with the cars or blocks that they never make it over to our project table but those activities are just as important. The projects that we have been working on in the classroom may look cute when hung up on a wall but keep in mind that they have a much bigger purpose than that. For example, the children made sparkly glitter art the other day which looks pretty yet also used many new skills. Squeezing the glue bottles helps to strengthen their small muscles in their hands and develop their fine motor skills. Shaking the glitter containers teaches cause and effect as well as creativity. This entire process facilitates language development as the children discuss how much glue they want, what color glitter they see and what they think of their creation when they are done. So, whenever you receive any projects in the cubbies, keep in mind all the hard work that went into something that may look so simple. The children are working hard with a purpose at preschool! While outside the children love to "cook" in the mud, build with the large cardboard blocks and swing on the swings. We have been working hard at cleaning up as a group. They seem to really enjoy working together to accomplish their goal! The children really love to listen to the songs at circle time and seem to especially like the flannel board pieces (language development, visual stimulation, interactivity; not just super fun!) Soon I will be able to lengthen our circle time by adding stories or extra songs. Soon it will be one of our most cooperative times of the day! The family photos have been very comforting for some of the children while others just like to name all their family members to whoever will listen. Please try to get yours to me if you have not yet done so. Thanks, we have been having so much fun so far! MWF The MWF class seems to really enjoy their new schedule. I feel like we are off to a very good start. Circle time has been so much fun this year because the children have so much to add to whatever we are discussing that day. Recently I have introduced the calendar. We discuss what month we are in as well as the day and the date. As a class, we count the numbers of the calendar each school day. Circle time has been running longer and longer due to all the questions or comments that the children have to add. It is very exciting to see. Show and Tell has begun and is a huge success! The children are so excited to share their items and equally as interested in seeing what their friends have brought to share. Some of the children choose to just hold up their item to show their friends and immediately put it away. Other children have so much to say about theirs that they would go on and on if they could! Most of them fall somewhere in the middle and each approach is great! I am pleasantly surprised to say that every child has decided to participate in Show and Tell already which is unusual! It is so fun to watch.

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Soon we will be working on Ocean themed activities and are looking forward to a visit from Cabrillo Marine Aquarium. There will be a touch tank as well as an informative and interactive puppet show. As you look at the projects coming home, I want to remind you that a lot goes into these projects and what may look like a simple finger paint project is actually the result of hard work from the children. They first tried to find their paper by discussing with a teacher the first letter of their name and together they found theirs. (Name recognition is one of the first steps to independently writing their names.) As they moved their fingers or hands through the paint, they were participating in some very important sensory experiences. They were discussing the colors and textures with the teachers as well as with each other. All of this is very important in their language development. Each step has a purpose and each child works through their project in their own personal way to create something unique! In October we will begin to discuss Halloween and make some festive Halloween projects. We will talk about our costumes and the difference between real and imaginary. Sometimes Halloween can be confusing or scary to young children so we choose to only discuss and create with the light and fun Halloween images. Our Sports Blitz class starts soon as well as Music class and Chapel. We have already begun practicing our chapel songs. Thank you to all who continue to bring your child on time to class, it really helps us to fit in all the important things we need to do in a day!

Green Door Greetings from MWF Green Door. The children have jumped right back into school and are clearly enjoying their time here. Even though we have children from different classrooms, it is hard to tell because they all play so nicely together. At yard time, the children have been enjoying going on the swings and bikes and climbers. Playing with water and sand continues to be a favorite. The new sink on the lower yard has been a big hit for cooking, filling buckets and washing the toys! Some of the kids are braving the fire pole and monkey bars. I asked one child who made it all the way across the bars if his mom knew he could go the whole way and he enthusiastically replied, “I just figured it out!” Another wanted me to watch him on the climber and he announced that he used to be scared but now he is brave! It is fun to see the children taking these small risks. It is also great to see them connecting with one another playing cooperative games or working together to build with blocks. In the classroom, the children are becoming familiar with the schedule, job chart and calendar routines. We have also been busy exploring colors and shapes. At circle time, we talked about our favorite colors and graphed them. We could tell that purple was the most popular color because it was the tallest tower. We also found many items in our classroom that were the same color or shapes as the ones we were discussing. This was very hard when we got to oval, but some of the children were still able to spy some oval shaped things, one of them being the rug we were sitting on. The children also liked singing a silly, rhyming song about Jenny Jenkins who doesn’t like any of the colored dresses her mom picks out. That is until she tries on one that is green which makes her feel like a queen! Some of the stories we read were Pete The Cat, I Love My White Shoes, Little Rabbit’s Big Shape Book, and Mouse Paint. Mouse Paint was told to the children using paint can props and colored mice! They truly thought it was magic! At Activity time, the kids were engaged all over the room. Many of them enjoy dressing up and playing family in the house area. Others like to use the staplers, tape and scissors at the art table. One activity that many of the children enjoyed was our farmers’ market food sorting where they sorted food into buckets based on color.

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As a group, we made some new teal play dough. The children helped Miss Anne count out the measurements for each ingredient and then took turns adding and stirring. The kids also practiced their cutting skills this last week when they had to cut out their own yellow triangle to collage. We also strung yellow beads and green grapes to make necklaces. In addition to these fine motor tasks, the children painted with their fingers, gadgets and balloons. These painting activities are done standing and the children get their whole bodies into the process. Thank you to the families that brought the color snacks. The snacks were creative and the children were excited to see what they would be eating each day. Thank you to Ben Blair’s father for being our first guest reader! I am happy to say that after a wild clean up, the children were a perfect audience and listened intently to Franklin Has the Hiccups. Miss Joyce, the Librarian, asked me to remind Green Door families to check books out from the library cart next to the office. I know that it is easy to forget about the cart since you don’t always pass the office but Miss Joyce had added many new books to the cart this year and there is a wonderful selection. T-Th Miss Amy and I are so happy to welcome our new little Green Door children and their families. What a great group! The children are learning that although separation from parents can be scary, their family will always come back to get them after school. Thank you for your positive assurances with your children. There are lots of smiles now. Our first back-to-school days were a bit toasty outside, but we cooled off with lots of water play and popsicle making. On the yard, the children helped several toy fish and sea animals swim and splash in our blue pool, learning some new animal names in the process. Small motor skills were developed as the children poured juice into little cups to make popsicles. This activity required focus and worked on hand-eye coordination. This skill is practiced every day during snack time and will later be used to help in holding a pencil and deliberately writing letters and words on a lined paper. Squeezing glue bottles and shaking glitter onto paper was so fun that the children didn’t even notice that they were developing small muscles in their fingers and hands that will give them the strength to open and close scissors to cut paper. Lots of socializing is happening in the dress up area. It has been a busy place for future daddies and mommies-in-training. They are practicing different adult roles such as caring for a baby, fixing dinner and being the parent who gets to tell their dolly to go to bed. A few fire fighters have practiced putting out fires. This use of imagination will later help when they read history and need to use their imagination to picture an event in time. While outside, the children thought they were simply climbing a ladder on the jungle gym, but they were really problem solving as they determined where to place their feet and hands to climb carefully to the top of a single-pole ladder and step over to a higher bridge. Also on the yard, the children enjoy working hard to use their big muscles to pedal a bike or a car or dig holes in the sand. Play is work for young minds and bodies. In the Green Door, the children are eager to work through play! It’s going to be a great year!

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LUNCH BUNCH

The Lunch Bunch children are familiar with the daily routine of coming in, placing their tote bag under the colored coded tag on the wall matching their classroom door color and taking their lunch over to the lunch table. The children are free to sit at any of the tables. Some like to sit with friends from their classroom and others like to sit with friends from another door. Once seated, the children open up their lunch items (with the teachers help IF needed.) Everyone is working on opening their sandwich bags, drinks and other containers. You can just see the intense concentration on their faces and they work away. They must eat something “healthy” first like their sandwich, a piece of fruit or some vegetables before moving on to the “treat” type foods. Thank you for remembering to not send and peanut/tree nut products in their lunches. All kinds of conversations are going on at each of the tables. We hear comments about what they did during the morning, what they played, what they are going to do when they go outside after lunch, trips they have been on or are going to go on soon and we even hear a few jokes now and then.

Once the children finish their lunch they throw away their own trash and put the recyclable items in the proper bin. They return their lunch box to their tote bag and find a resting mat. The older children are learning how to put their own sheets on their mats and are even helping the younger children. Rest time is a time to listen to music, read books, love a stuffed animal and visit quietly with one another. Once in a while we show a short age-appropriate dvd.

Of course they can’t wait to get back outside to engage in all the fun activities. Some will head for the tire swing while others get busy digging in the dirt and adding water for whatever imaginative scenario they have in mind. With children coming from the

variety of classrooms they seem to enjoy making new friends and playing together.

This week we start offering other alternative activities during yard time. They may string cereal, paint with apples, paint with the BIG tires on the yard, play in cornstarch with sifters, measuring cups and spoons and perhaps add water. One week they will glue all different wood pieces, tissue tubes, egg cartons and such on a large piece of cardboard.

The following week they will paint their amazing structure. You just never know what we will come up with!

We end the afternoon with clean up time and go back into the lunch bunch room for stories, songs or perhaps some games.

If you haven’t signed up for Lunch Bunch yet, checkout the notebook on the counter outside of the office. We would love to have all the children joins us in the FUN!

Thank you so much to the families who participated during our first SCRIP Drive. Your gift card purchases earned the preschool $56.25 this month!

Every little bit helps! Our next SCRIP Order is due Thursday, October 2nd, 2015.

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KID QUOTES

“That toy belongs on the Downer Yard.”

“Whee! This swing is just like Knott’s Berry farm!”

“After all that snack helpering, I’m ready to play.”

“Well, here we are at Las Vegas,” said one little girl as she pushed her stroller under the

loft.

Three children took turns listening to a large seashell. Holding it to their ears, they said:

“I hear the ocean.”

“I hear the water.”

“What if I hear a shark?!?

After coming in from the yard…”I got so dirty and hair’s all messed up.” …Looks in the

mirror and says, “Wait actually it looks kind of handsome!”

Child coming into the classroom on the first day of school:

“I’m back!”

Child to a teacher: “Will you play people with me please?”

Teacher says she would love to play.

Child to the same teacher: “Here, this is you, because you are old.”

She handed the teacher the grandma doll.

Child #1: “I’m going to build a sinkhole for you teacher!”

Child #2: “We have a hole in our sink at home!”

Teacher to child: “How did you get to be so tall?”

Child: “I got 4.”

Children are playing with the blocks and one announces:

“We are making Christmas!”

“This weekend I stayed up all night and roller skated!”

“I’m allergic to the sun because it is made of gas.”